I've been a member of the group for some time but have not had much time to post comments. I am grateful for all the interesting information that I've obtained from this forum.
I've had my telescopes for many years but have had little oppurtunity to really get involved. Early last year I decided to build an observatory to house my 10" newtonian. It is a colorbond structure with a C-purlin frame and track. Overall dimensions are 3m x 4.2m with the main section for the scope being 3m x 3m. The remaining 1.2m x 3m space is for the control room and storage. I had many issues with the construction and it is still not complete. However, it is usable now and slowly getting the finishing touches it needs. It is built on a concrete slab with a separate foundation for the pier (0.8m x0.8m x 1.2m deep). The roof is white and lined with insulation. So far I have left the walls bare. I found the roof quite heavy to roll manually - someone (me) was going to get a back injury or worse I'll fall on the telescope and damage it! Initially I thought of using a manual device to open and close the roof but after looking at the complexity and also being able to find a cheap garage door opener I decided to automate it.
The observatory was operational mid to late last year but I only recently placed the 10" in it. The setup is currently OK for visual work as my mount is old and severely under-capacity. Funds for an upgrade are not available at the moment and so I will have to do with what I have for now. In saying that, I am trying to add autoguide functions to the mount to do some photography - so far I'm having partial success but this is story on its own.
Anyway, I hope this will give some ideas or inspiration to build your own.
I haven't got the best photo on hand but hopefully this will explain it. I connected a chain in the centre of the roof from front to back. I placed the garage door opener above the control room and looped the chain around the sprocket of the gearbox. The chain is essentially a bicycle chain so to assist in creating a loop I obtained two rear sprockets for a bike and removed the ratchet from them to allow them to spin both ways.
In this way, the observatory opening is unobstructed and what seemed to be a hair-tearing exercise ended up being quite simple. The motor also has soft start/stop and a remote!
That obervatory is a really beautiful bit of work, congratulations. I'm keen to set something up myself but I'm sure it won't be anything as flash as yours. It suspect it cost a decent amount. Was the basic framework some form of kit or did you design/build it all from scratch?
Bruce, the design/build is my own and I got a lot of ideas from other ROR observatories and also a garage that I was having built at the same time. So while the concreter was around I asked him to do the slab for me. If you have many hands to help, you can do this yourself and save some money - unfortunately I didn't. The steelwork cost about $2.5-3K and I built it myself.
I looked at kit sheds. Though a lot cheaper, I could not get the size and arrangement that I wanted. Most don't have a frame and for stiffness rely on the roof being in position. If you don't have a roof you need to add a frame to provide the support for the walls. By the time you add this the dollars add up anyway.
In regards to the price, I did shop around and there was variability. Some places may offer a slight discount if you buy the whole thing as a project rather than bits and pieces. I also tried to make do with used items as well like steel brackets and wood panels - so keep an eye out for anything you think you can use. I'm happy to give you some pointers/ideas once you get serious. The biggest hurdle is committing to start!
How tall are the walls? I have access to $6 sheets of 1.8m colorbond. I'm figuring I don't want my walls higher than that for sky access, but obviously it would be a bit cramped for height when the roof is shut (I don't think that bothers me too much).
Wall height was a dilemma. I ended up with 1.8m high walls with a door height opening of 1.7m (to allow for the track).
My roof clearance on the inside is in the order of 2m. The main driver was that I wanted the control room roof to be at 1.9m. So to clear its frame the roof cross members were higher than that. The apex of the roof is at 2.4m.
But in regards to the panels, I ordered 1.85m panels so that I could overlap the concrete slab - I didn't want any water to get in. $6 sheets sounds good though. I would make use of them and then work out a way of adding roof clearance.
